Episode 47 Stove Box Mark 3

Stove Box Mark 1 was large and heavy. I had built it for the Austral 20 because it had no galley. It was made from 12mm ply, lined with cement board and had a compartment for a twin-burner stove and a sink. The disadvantages of its size and weight became apparent when I maneuvered it through the companionway hatch and into the tiny cabin. Maneuvering one’s own body in the tiny cabin cramps everything to a shuffling crouch, which, when adding a heavy, cumbersome weight, almost guarantees a lower lumbar injury. At least the cement board would have never caught on fire.

Like my old Austral 20, Sandpiper has no galley, so I constructed Stove Box Mark 2 - a new, lighter version from 4mm ply with aluminum sheet lining. I needed means to cook tea and breakfast for the Moreton Bay Raid in September 2024 (see Sailing Kate Louise Moreton Bay Raid Part 1 and Sailing Kate Louise Moreton Bay Raid Part 2). It worked well and did not give me a back injury, but it was still too big. It was too big to fit into one of the cockpit lockers, so had to live in the cabin on a spare bunk. This required further maneuvering to get it into the cabin for stowage and out of the cabin for cooking. I decided this was too hard, so set about constructing Stove Box Mark 3.

Stove Box Mark 3 was much more difficult than the previous two versions, because I wanted it to fit into the port-side cockpit locker. The locker itself is spacious and it has a seemingly large hatch. However, the hatch has a fat L shape and the dimension from the inside corner of the L to the outside corned determined whether a rectangular box would fit, or not.

I also wanted the Stove Box Mark 3 to accommodate my methylated spirit stove, like Stove Box Mark 2. The stove fit through the hatch nicely, but getting the stove in a box through the hatch proved a challenge. It took me about three days’ work of cutting, assembling, fitting, further cutting, further fitting etc. to get the stove box to the minimum dimensions. Even so, the fit through the hatch was millimeters tight. Reluctantly, I filed off a tiny part of the inside radius of the hatch to ease the passage of the box in and out. I also had to grow my collection of tools to include a small bench-saw and a drop-saw, both of which could cut to the kind of sub-millimeter accuracy I needed. The box now squeezes in and out of the hatch, and the stove squeezes in and out of the box.

I designed the front and top with battens, which serve two purposes; they provide something to grip onto when lifting it, and they also lift the covers off the underlying surface, which, I thought, would provide some handy landing-spots for the putting-down of very hot pans or kettles on the boat. I dread getting burn-rings on the boat or its furnishings.

Today, I tested it on the rear deck by making tea during some wild, rainy weather. I am glad to say the sides shelter the flame well and my wife says the tea tasted good. I call that a success.

Stove Box Mark 3 in operation

Stove Box Mark 3 stowed